1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel compound, in particular to an extract isolated and purified from Antrodia camphorata, and its use in inhibiting tumor growth.
2. The Prior Arts
Antrodia camphorata (Niu Chang-Zhi) is also called “Chang-Zhi”, “Niu Chang-Ku”, “Red-Chang”, “Red Chang-Chih”, “Chang-Ku”, camphor chamber mushroom and so on, which is an endemic species in Taiwan growing on the inner rotten heart wood wall of Cinnamomum kanehirae Hay in the altitude of 450M to 2000M in the mountains of Taiwan. The fruit bodies of Antrodia camphorata grow inside of the tree trunk. Cinnamoum kanehirai Hay is distributed mainly in the mountain areas of Tao-Yuan, Nan-Tou and has been put on the rare and valuable list due to rare amount and over cutting unlawfully. The Antrodia camphorata in the wild thus became even rare. Because the growth rate of natural Antrodia camphorata is extremely slow, and its growth season is from June to October, therefore the price of Antrodia camphorata is very expensive.
The fruiting bodies of Antrodia camphorata are perennial, sessile, suberin or woody, with various appearances such as plate-like, bell-like, hoof-like, or tower-like shapes. They are flat on the surface of wood at the beginning of growth. Then the brim of the front edge arise to roll into plate-shaped or stalactites. The top surfaces of Antrodia camphorata are lustrous, brown to dark brown in color, with unobvious wrinkles, flat and blunt edges. The bottom sides are orange red or partially yellow with ostioles all over.
In addition, Antrodia camphorata exhales strong smell of sassafras (camphor aroma), becomes pale yellowish brown after sun-dried and has a strong bitter taste. In traditional Taiwanese medicine, Antrodia camphorata is commonly used for detoxification, liver protective, anti-cancer. Antrodia camphorate, like general edible and medicinal mushrooms, is rich in numerous nutrients including polysaccharides (such as β-glucosan), triterpenoids, superoxide dismutase (SOD), adenosine, proteins (immunoglobulins), vitamins (such as vitamin B, nicotinic acid), trace elements (such as calcium, phosphorus and germanium and so on), nucleic acid, agglutinin, amino acids, steroids, lignins and blood pressure stabilizers (such as antodia acid) and the like. These bioactive ingredients are believed to exhibit beneficial effects such as: anti-tumor, immunity enhancement, anti-allergy, inhibition of platelet agglutination, anti-virus, anti-bacteria, anti-hypertension, blood glucose-lowering, cholesterol-lowering, hepatic protection and the like.
Triterpenoids are the most studied component among the numerous compositions of Antrodia camphorate. Triterpenoids are the summary terms for natural compounds, which contain 30 carbon atoms with the pentacyclic or hexacyclic structures. The bitter taste of Antrodia camphorata is from the component of triterpenoids. Three novel ergostane-type triterpenoids (antcin A, antcin B, antcin C) were isolated by Cherng et al. from the fruiting bodies of Antrodia camphorata (Cherng, I. H., and Chiang, H. C. 1995. Three new triterpenoids from Antrodia cinnamomea. J. Nat. Prod. 58:365-371). Three new compounds named zhankuic acid A, zhankuic acid B and zhankuic acid were extracted from the fruiting bodies of Antrodia camphorata with ethanol by Chen et al. (Chen, C. H., and Yang, S. W. 1995. New steroid acids from Antrodia cinnamomea, a fungus parasitic on Cinnamomum micranthum. J. Nat. Prod. 58:1655-1661). In addition, Cherng et al. also found three other new triterpenoids from the fruiting bodies of Antrodia camphorate, which are sesquiterpene lactone and 2 biphenyl derived compounds, 4,7-dimethoxy-5-methyl-1,3-benzodioxole and 2,2′,5,5′-teramethoxy-3,4,3′,4′-bi-methylenedioxy-6,6′-dimethylbiphenyl (Chiang, H. C., Wu, D. P., Cherng, I. W., and Ueng, C. H.1995. A sesquiterpene lactone, phenyl and biphenyl compounds from Antrodia cinnamomea. Phytochemistry. 39:613-616). In 1996, four novel ergostane-type triterpenoids (antcins E and F and methyl antcinates G and H) were isolated by Cherng et al. with the same analytic methods (Cherng, I. H., Wu, D. P., and Chiang, H. C. 1996. Triteroenoids from Antrodia cinnamomea. Phytochemistry. 41:263-267). And two ergostane related steroids, zhankuic acids D and E together with three lanosta related triterpenes, 15 alpha-acetyl-dehydrosulphurenic acid, dehydroeburicoic acid, dehydrosulphurenic acid were isolated by Yang et al. (Yang, S. W., Shen, Y. C., and Chen, C. H.1996. Steroids and triterpenoids of Antrodia cinnamomea a fungus parasitic on Cinnamomum micranthum. Phytochemistry. 41:1389-1392). Searches for exact active ingredients in antitumor effect are still in the experimental stage, and are remained to be elucidated, though the antitumor effects of Antrodia camphorata extracts were reported (such as the abovementioned references). This will greatly contributes great beneficial effects on cancer treatment if the exact antitumor composition is found.